Gastrointestinal Cancer Care at Wilmot.

Gastrointestinal cancers include many different types of cancer that occur along the gastrointestinal tract, which is composed of the esophagus, stomach, colon, rectum, pancreas and liver.

At the Wilmot Cancer Center, we offer the region’s largest team of experts focused on gastrointestinal—or GI—cancers. This focus enables us to provide a higher level of expertise that comes from treating the same kinds of cancer every day.

Wilmot also provides a complete team of experts in one place. As a result, you will never have to travel to another center for any part of your care.

What to expect.

Since GI Cancer covers such a broad range of cancers, our first step will be putting you in touch with a team that specializes in your particular type of GI cancer.

Your lead doctor will discuss your case with the other doctors who are part of your team. This team typically includes a surgical oncologist, a medical oncologist, a radiation oncologist and a pathologist. It may also include other doctors, such as an interventional radiologist.

Together, your team of doctors will create a treatment plan for you. By including every doctor you need in this planning phase, you will be assured of an approach that takes advantage of the best knowledge from every discipline.

Wilmot also provides many other specialists who can help you throughout your treatment and recovery. These include GI nurses, nutritionists, physical therapists, occupational therapists and social workers.

(or instead of “What to expect” this section could be about research)

Clinical trials for GI Cancer.

In some cases, a clinical trial may provide a patient with the best chance for a cure. Fortunately, the Wilmot Cancer Center offers more clinical trials for GI cancer than any other center in the region.

We are members of one of the largest national groups offering clinical trials for GI cancers, the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG). We also launch many of our own clinical trials of promising new approaches for treating GI Cancer.

As a patient who is newly diagnosed, it may be hard to know if you will be interested in a clinical trial. But by going to a center that has the widest selection of clinical trials, you will be able to keep the most options open for your treatment.